Barrita: P-Noy’s smile
PRESIDENT Noynoy Aquino’s smiling while inspecting the bus where eight Hong Kong tourists were killed has riled Hong Kongers (or Hong Kongese as in Chinese) who thought PNoy was taking the tragedy lightly.
He wasn’t. He said so.
But his smile has launched a thousand rants.
***
The botched hostage crisis in Manila has made so many instant experts in dealing with a hostage-taker and a hostage crisis.
Some even joked about it, noting the Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) team for its “lack of weapons and tactics.”
As Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Ager Ogtog Jr. aptly observed, it’s easy to criticize the police “when you’re not in the line of fire.”
***
Sun.Star Cebu Public and Standards (PAS) editor Cheking Seares, who put me in this straight and narrow (as in “straight is the gate, and narrow is the way”) corner, said Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal told him he reads his column in his “favorite” corner.
Businessman Rod Ngo once said this is the “best corner” for a trader to sell his wares.
As Cheking’s only alternate in this corner, I run the risk of being read by His Eminence too.
***
Cardinal Vidal called grizzled journalist Juan Mercado, who turned 80 last Thursday, an “extraordinary man.”
A hero to his children, Don Juan isn’t afraid to grow old, saying it’s “a privilege denied to many.”
How true. How true.
***
Broadcaster Nino Padilla said his group is reviving radio station dyRC on Sept. 21, the 70th anniversary of Cebu’s pioneer AM station, then known as the “Voice of Cebu.”
I thought it signed off forever.
It was at dyRC where I first learned the ropes in radio news reporting and broadcasting with veteran broadcasters like the late Ramonito del Rosario, Danny Relatado and Art Maloy (Arturo Maloloy-on), Roy Ladiona, Brady Lucero, Kim Aviles and many others.